K2 (GC562) - Anadarko

Profile for K2 Field (GC562) - Anadarko Oil Project

Location

• The K2 field is situated in the Green Canyon Blocks 518 and 562, approximately 175 miles south of New Orleans, Louisiana.
• It is located at a water depth of 4,326 feet.

Geology

• The K2 oil field is characterized by a large salt-cored compressional anticline structure surrounded by a 10,000-12,000 feet thick salt canopy.
• A crestal normal fault divides the field into north and south fault blocks.
• The field consists of two main reservoirs, M14 and M20, which are composed of turbidite sheet deposits of Miocene age.
  • The M14 reservoir is a single clean sand with a thickness of up to 100 feet and a high net to gross pay ratio.
  • The permeability of the field averages 700 millidarcies (md), and the porosity averages 23%.

Discovery and Development

• The K2 field was originally discovered in 1999 by Conoco.
• In 2000, ENI took over as the operator, but the project was later sanctioned in 2004.
• Initial development involved drilling sub-sea wells GC 562 1, 2, and 3 in Green Canyon block 562.
• Development activities included sidetracking of these wells below the 9-7/8″ production casing at depths ranging from 22,000 to 26,000 feet true vertical depth (TVD), and running 7-3/4in and 9-7/8in production casings.
• Production from the GC 562 3 well began in May 2005, and by 2006, all three wells were on production using sub-sea tiebacks to the Marco Polo Tension Leg Platform (TLP) located in Green Canyon block 608, about seven miles from the K2 field.

Unitization and Operator

• In July 2006, both the K2 and K2 North fields were unitized by all working interest parties.
• In January 2007, Anadarko Petroleum was appointed as the operator of the K2 field.

Stakeholders

• Anadarko Petroleum holds a 41.8% working interest in the field.
• Other stakeholders include:
  • Ecopetrol: 9.21%
  • Nippon: 11.6%
  • MCX: 11.6%
  • ConocoPhillips: 12.4%
  • ENI: 13.4%.

Production and Reserves

• The K2 field is estimated to hold oil reserves of approximately 100 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
• Production from the field is processed at Anadarko’s Marco Polo TLP.
• In March 2009, Anadarko announced the development of two additional wells: GC 606 1 and GC 562 4 sidetrack 3. The GC 606 1 well, located in approximately 4,150 feet of water, was tested at 4,000 BOE/d and found 110 feet of net hydrocarbon pay in three middle- and lower-Miocene sands.

Challenges

• The development of the K2 field faced several challenges, including:
  • Loop current
  • Hurricanes Lillie, Katrina, and Rita
  • Shallow water flow zones
  • Drilling through 10,000 feet of salt.